Gordon tells fans to expect an occasion in Dublin

Friday 12 June 2015

Scotland National Team boss Gordon Strachan says fans are guaranteed a show whoever wins tomorrow night’s EURO qualifier clash between the Republic of Ireland and Scotland.

The Republic of Ireland sit two points behind Scotland in Group D with last year’s 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture still fresh in their memories. Scotland, with three wins in the campaign, can further stake their claim for an automatic qualification berth with victory.

Gordon says the importance of tomorrow night’s fixture won’t become apparent until qualification is over – no matter how tight the group is.

Speaking in Dublin he said: “You never know what points total you have to achieve. All we know is that because of the performances of the two squads over last 6 months to a year, we will have an occasion tomorrow.

“It was an occasion at Celtic Park when we were overjoyed. We were the fortunate ones that day. We were the ones who won. Supporters will be looking at that game and saying if we get that again, we’ll be happy.”

All but one of the team who beat the Irish in November are available for selection on Saturday and several others impressed in the 1-0 win over Qatar last week.

Gordon praised the depth of talent available to him at present and believes sum of his team’s parts is stronger than any individual in the Scotland squad at present:

“All we try and do is perform, which we have done in every one of these ties so far. Whatever their individual abilities are they have to come to the fore tomorrow and it has to come together in a group sense. If we get that, and for some reason we don’t get the points we are after, then so be it - we go onto the next game.

“I don’t think any one player on either side would really effect the outcome of the game. We don’t have a Messi that can change a game, just score a goal and take a game by the scruff of the neck and cause havoc. Everything we’ve achieved with the squad has been through hard work and good good players, but not that world-class player.”

One player who could feature tomorrow is Celtic’s Charlie Mulgrew. The 29-year old has been sidelined since December but made an impressive return to Scotland duty playing the full 90 minutes versus Qatar.

The National Team Manager pointed to teammate Alan Hutton as an example of a player impressing in the dark blue without an extended run of games behind them.

Gordon said: “Alan Hutton had some of his best Scotland performances when he wasn’t in the Aston Villa squad. That must have been harder for Alan to not get picked with the way he was playing for us.

“Charlie looks fantastic. He has a way about things and nothing seems to rush him. He’s become the big lad I knew at Celtic, a strong minded and confident young man.”